BBC sells content to Foxtel – and doesn’t tell Aunty!

The BBC ‘went behind’ the ABC’s back in a deal which sees BBC programs premiered on pay TV channel Foxtel.

The ABC dismantled its TV production capacity in the smaller state centres and severely curtailed it even in Sydney and Melbourne, with huge loss of talent and experience and that ‘special commitment’ to their product that ABC staffers and former staffers will recognise… while this skill base was dismantled there were those of us who worried about how the ABC would fill its growing number of channels and platforms with content – not any old content, but the quality content for which the ABC has been renowned and appreciated through most of its history. The ABC can no longer fall back on its in-house capacity for TV production. Now it can no longer fall back on its BBC program purchases. That leaves the Australian independent TV production sector, located mostly in the eastern states, and other international non-public sector broadcasters to fill its schedules.